Kenneth S. Kang
February 26, 1999
Anthropology 9 - Dubin
Directed by Michael Apted, the 1992 film, Thunderheart, depicts a fictionalized murder investigation in Bear Creek Reservation. Although at times it subscribes to popular stereotypes, the film raises awareness of native American issues. Providing realism to the setting and character development, the film reveals the conditions and emotions in reservations. Both entertaining and educational, Thunderheart shows Native Americans less like the ghosts of expansionist America and more like a living, dynamic people.
Because the film targeted a popular audience, Thunderheart uses existing stereotypes to help the audience identify key characters. Costumes, mannerisms, and dialogue all help establish the "indianness" of a character. One character, Grandpa Sam Reaches, is introduced as the spiritual leader and is taciturn. His first scene in the movie shows him exiting a sweatlodge during an FBI raid. However, the plot adds nuances which challenge and modify the audience's stereotypes. Adding realism, Grandpa lives in a decrepit camper and is shown watching television. The script also rounds out Grandpa's character by giving him lines outside his religious functions. While he is conducting a ceremony, the protagonist, Ray Levoi, leaves because it reminds him of an incident in his childhood. When Walter Crow Horse tries to confront Levoi, he starts fighting. Surprising Levoi by speaking in English, Grandpa yells at them to cut it out. By filming other aspects of reservation life, Thunderheart helps to show the other side of the Native American stereotypes.
Apted's film challenges preconceptions of reservations which were originally part of a plan to "help [the tribes] make the necessary adjustment for entering civilization" (Takaki [1993] 232). By showing the run down streets and houses, viewers can see the actual conditions in modern reservations. The readings in many history courses do not cover the modern aspects of reservations. For moviegoers, Thunderheart may be their first and only exposure to reservations that are outside the context of the Indian removal.
In addition to the general environment of the reservation, the film shows signs of internal stress amongst the residents. The reservation is divided between the government and anti-government factions. The major anti-government group is Aboriginal Rights Movement (ARM) which wants to restore the chief system and take back the native American lands. ARM stresses the preservation of their culture and protection of their lands. The government-supporting reservation council is accepting of government aid. The driving forces behind the murder investigation are the reservation president, Jack Milton, and ARM. Just like Republicans and Democrats, the reservations are politically diverse. By focusing on the political conflict, the reservation residents become less alien to movie's audience.
The film draws parallels between Jackson's Indian Removal and the current struggle in the reservation. Both the US Cavalry during Custer's era and the FBI try to pacify the native Americans in the name of national progress. In Custer's case, it is manifest destiny while in the movie it is national security. In 1830, the westward expansion of the U.S. had begun to encroach on Cherokee lands, and the government soon gave the tribes an ultimatum: "leave the state or be subjugated to white rule" (Takaki [1993] 94). Chief John Ross of the Cherokees urged "The object of the President is ... to create divisions among ourselves" (qtd. in Takaki [1993] 94). By splitting up the tribes, the government was able to have a treaty signed by a minority of the Cherokees and "legally" take over the land. In Thunderheart, the FBI and the reservation council collude against ARM to ensure a nearby uranium mining deal. With the help of the tribal council and president, Jack Milton, the U.S. government is able to mine the nearby hills for uranium and pollute the river which passes through the reservation. By murdering council members and framing ARM, the U.S. is trying to push the uranium mining deal which will help its own interests. In both cases, the government is meddling with Native Americans to get whatever they want. Most textbooks are silent about the government involvement with Native Americans after the reservation system reforms 1930s. Thunderheart challenges ignorance and reminds movie viewers that the Native American issues are still present in the reservations.
Because of the extensive government involvement, the fictional reservation residents in Thunderheart tend to be less cooperative with the FBI. Investigating the recent murder on the Bear Creek Reservation, FBI agent, Ray Levoi, finds uncooperative individuals like Maggie Eagle Bear. The reservation cop, Walter Crow Horse, explains that residents think of the FBI as the second-coming of the cavalry. After having many years of outside meddling, the residents just want to be left alone. They don't want the FBI messing around in their reservation. Both the government and anti-government factions do not appreciate the government and FBI meddling in their reservation. Jack Milton recruits volunteers to help secure the reservation and sets up roadblocks. Milton claims that he'll catch the murder the Indian way. The anti-government faction, ARM, tries to keep to themselves and avoid involving themselves in the tangle of U.S. politics. ARM supports, Maggie and Walter both, try to keep their distance from the FBI investigation. Filmmakers set the mistrust of the government and focus it on a more accessible organization like the FBI. By doing so, the audience is better able to relate to the feelings of the Sioux. At the same time, the Jackson-era paternalism is replaced by a sense of a more independent reservation.
Thunderheart also examines the Native American culture. The film capitalizes on the stereotype of the peaceful and land-respecting native American. At the same time, it stays away from the violent and savage Indian. The antagonists, Milton's goons, and the government are portrayed more like urban thugs with guns and large cars than Indian warriors. In contrast, the warriors under ARM are said to make the people proud of their heritage. The movie, however, never shows them as violent-only arming themselves to protect Levoi. They fill the audience stereotype of a religious and "freedom fighting" group. The ARM warriors could be said to have "civilized" concepts of honor and loyalty to their cause. They fit the stereotype of America's Founding Fathers who fought tyranny and oppression.
Being part-Sioux, Ray Levoi is discovers his heritage during his investigation. After the Levoi helps apprehend the suspect, Milton congratulates him and calls Levoi chola. Levoi, by that point sympathizes with ARM's cause and had had his vision of Wounded Knee and it seems out of place that Milton, a more capitalized political weasel, calls Levoi a chola. Thunderheart-because Levoi who experienced a vision-perpetuates the stereotype of the pipe-smoking-vision-seeking Native American. The movie defines and glorifies Native Americans because of their spirituality, love of the land, and traditions.
The glorification of the Native American culture in Thunderheart is a form of imperialist nostalgia. The film has political message that the reservations should be left alone and that the Native American traditions should be preserved. Considering that the protagonist is "accepted" into the community based on his acceptance of the tribe's religion further reaffirms the imperialist nostalgia.
It is hard to judge the accuracy of the Sioux traditions shown in Thunderheart. The movie takes the foreign world of the modern reservation and allows the common viewer to see it in terms that are easier to swallow. By making the lives of the Sioux more accessible, director Michael Apted has made it easier for people to understand the larger contexts in which Native Americans live. It extends the images of the Indian Removal Acts and helps people understand that "still the Indian grouphoods, languages, religions, culture systems, symbolisms, mental and emotional attitudes toward self and the world continue to live on. Not fossilized, unadaptive, not sealed into the past, but plastic, adaptive, assimilative, while yet faithful to their ancient values ..." (Collier [1947] 15).
Thunderheart. 1992. Dir. Michael Apted. Columbia TriStar Home Video.